Cabinet gives nod to new telecom policy

The Cabinet Wednesday approved the new telecom policy, now named as 'National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018' that aims to attract USD 100 billion investment and create 40 lakh jobs in the sector by 2022.

Communication systems have been evolving at a rapid pace globally, especially in areas like 5G, Internet of Things and Machine to Machine Communication, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said.

He added that it was felt that a "consumer-centric and application-driven policy" be brought in.

Some of the objectives of the NDCP 2018 include providing broadband access to all, creating 40 lakh new jobs, and increasing India's ranking in the global ICT Index to 50th spot.

"We also expect GDP contribution of telecom sector, which has been around six per cent, to grow to 8 per cent... and expect USD 100 billion investment to come in," he said.

The vision, Sinha said, is to have robust communication infrastructure which is "ubiquitous, resilient secure, and affordable".

The draft policy, which was in public domain for consultation, focused on increasing high-speed broadband penetration, with use of modern technologies like 5G and optical fibres across the country at affordable rates.